What Did Santa Put in My Stocking?

I finished Rowan's stocking on time for Santa to fill it with lots of goodies including this rattle and cute hat.

Christmas Present

Holidays are hard on a baby. They are equally hard on a baby's parents. Or at least they can be. The only way that I survived the lead up to Christmas, Christmas itself and the days following was by just "going with the flow" so to speak. Oddly enough and contrary to what I thought possible, being a mom has been teaching me to relax where the little things in life are concerned. Yes, I am still an obsessive worrier and still check for life-signs when Rowan sleeps through his 3am feeding but I think (and maybe I am wrong here and my family will surely correct me) I am able to let go of things that really don't have much significance. For example, we missed Christmas mass and I didn't lose my mind! Imagine that...

That reminds me, this Christmas, much like a lot of the past 4 months was filled with a bunch of "firsts" worth mentioning. This was the first Christmas:

• for our baby Rowan of course
• where I didn't have all of the shopping done at least a week before the big day (in fact, I picked up a few more gifts after the holidays were over!)
• where I just gave up on finding the right gifts because of time or because I was flat out of ideas in some cases
• we spent Christmas in Ottawa
• we missed mass (as mentioned earlier but worth mentioning again because this should have been a bigger deal than it was!)
• we didn't cook our own turkey dinner
• we didn't have mashed potatoes or turnip and survived
• where my father only ate about a cup of food at Christmas dinner instead of his normal 2 plates full (I ate his share instead)
• we had with Gramma R in a very long time (possibly 15 years?)
• that I didn't nap the days away
• that I threw a hissy fit in the parking lot jumping up and down like a spoiled child (I pray the neighbours didn't witness my breakdown)
• that I didn't eat a pound of chocolate before lunch on Christmas day

Our Christmas-day-gift-opening-extravaganza was as it always has been. We started opening presents at about 7:30am and didn't finish until close to 1pm. Rowan had a couple of naps between gifts which did extend the event slightly, but I would say that we had a solid 5 hours of gift-opening. As sick and over-the-top as this may sound, we are known for wrapping everything up even if it is just a pair of socks and we each take our turn which, I have to say, is a lot more fun than having all our gifts in front of us and ripping them open all at once. I like watching the surprise on everyone's face when they open their gifts and well, that's lost when everyone is opening what they got all at the same time. I still don't know what Lila, Pauline and Hanan got for Christmas because of the mayhem that went on at the Bejjani's on Christmas night. I prefer the Richardson way and I always will. Rowan received more gifts than I could keep track of. They came from everywhere! People love babies. It never ceases to amaze me. He seems to like Tad the best at this point. Mind you, he is too small for about 90% of the toys he received. He falls asleep to the frog singing. His dad and I hate the thing, but I am pretty sure that parental hate is inversely proportional to toy success. That means the cute Animalz that I found in England are likely going to flop big time regardless if they were rated as one of CoolMom's top 10 toys of the year. He will also probably ignore the handmade bunny I found on the street in Cardiff. The lucky little boy got a lot of cute clothing too. He needed it. Especially the long sleeved onesies and the pjs. I loved opening the gifts J found for him because I didn't know what they were going to be. I think we'll continue to buy gifts for the little tadpole independently because it makes for more fun and I am all about the fun. I am really looking forward to Christmases where Rowan is aware of what is going on and is able to participate. I remember not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve because I was both excited and terrified that Santa was coming. I want that for him. I want him to grow up with traditions that he'll miss when they are broken or skipped like the things that I missed this year-- like the sparkle of Christmas mass, the singing and the sound of christmas night which is the muffled sound of snow crunching beneath my feet (and the weird silence of snow falling), the smell of turkey cooking, my mother's gravy, turnip, my grandparents, boxing day with bestfriends... Here a few photos of the Richardson Christmas morning madness. I will post a few of my favourite photos taken over the holiday in another blog.

A New Tradition

One of the things that I have been looking forward to has been the opportunity to start new traditions with Rowan while holding on to the many old ones that we have in our family. Christmas is full of tradition and so I guess it is only natural that our "first" new tradition happened on Christmas Eve. Much to John's delight, he got to be center stage for the event-- Here he is reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the babies in the family just before bedtime. He insisted on providing a commentary after every line which stressed me out because I could see that baby Rowan was growing impatient and needed to hit the sac. I guess Daddy will have to learn to read his crowd a little better in the years to come. Someday the commentary will be appreciated but this year, let's just say the babes were too young to understand his cleverness.

A Good Boy I have Been. I Swear.

Auntie Nicole and Uncle Darren bought Rowan the cutest Christmas onesie out there to be had this year. The only bad thing about it is that it won't fit next year! He wore it to the cookie exchange and of course, he was even sweeter than the goodies that were traded that day.

Cookie, Cookie, Cookie...Good Enough For Everyone But Me

I held a Christmas Cookie Exchange this year. It was a success although I won't be able to eat any of the goodies that were brought by my 12 guests. They probably all contain that nasty stuff called soy. why does God have to be so cruel and put soy in chocolate (and flip the canoe)? What I wouldn't do for just a little taste...Actually, hurt my baby is what I wouldn't do, but the cookies sure did look good.

Here is a picture or two of Rowan learning to bake.

Almost Ready For Christmas??

One of the great things about having family and visitors over the Christmas holiday is that our house gets cleaned from top to bottom (or any holiday for that matter). I have to admit that the housekeeping around here has been very low on my list of priorities since, oh...about the 7th month of pregnancy. That means I have let things slide and pile up for at least 6 months. There is an awful lot of crud that can accumulate during that time period and it could be worse. If my mom and ana hadn't strapped on their rubber gloves and cleaned like mad molly-maids while I was in the hospital getting ready to bring Rowan home (thanks again for that.) I am pretty sure there would be bags of dog hair being pulled out from under the couches now. I have never really *liked* cleaning the house, but I like everyone else, hate the filth and feel wonderful when the house is sparkling like it was last night. The trick will be to keep it prestine until at least Christmas Eve. Luckily the little man is quite content to sit in his swing these days or to be toted around in the ergobaby by a daddy that is an excellent house-wife. Here is my house-wife mopping the floors...

Headline reads: "Child Swallows Band-Aid in Grocery Store Line Up" and you think-- WHAT KIND OF IDIOT LETS THAT HAPPEN!

Did I mention that I almost amputated my son's finger with nail clippers? Yes, I have learned to exaggerate well. I come by it honestly. But seriously, the blood that came out of the place where the chunk of skin use to be was enough to make my head light and my knees buckle. John on the other hand was completely calm and had enough witts about him to suggest a Band-Aid. Rowan didn't cry for long but I am still getting over the incident. Can you get post-traumatic-stress-disorder from something like this?

Needless to say, I won't be cutting his nails anymore. I hated it to begin with because of the thought of what *could* happen. I hate it even more now. I feel my chest tightening and my heart pounding even now as I write about the experience. What will I do the first time he bangs his head or scrapes his knee you ask? My answer--that isn't going to happen because as soon as he is able to walk he will be wrapped in bubble wrap from head-to-toe. I am fully prepared for the consequences associated with being an overbearing and overprotective mother.

Yes, that is another exaggeration.

Here is a photo of our little guy with all 10 fingers and 10 toes. I am proud to say we have done a pretty good job keeping him alive so far even if he did almost swallow the Band-Aid that we had to use to stop the blood from flowing. My trusty risk-assessment skills saved us again because I wouldn't let him out of my sight with that thing on the thumb he likes to suck and well, as it turns out, for good reason. I pulled the Band-Aidout of his mouth when he started to gag in the line-up at the grocery store. Oh the trials of parenthood...